I've moved into a new unit as a renter. At my old place I was on fibre, but my new landlord isn't as open minded about "property modifications" as the old one was, so a fibre connection is out of the question.

This obviously leaves me with ADSL or VDSL, but the master splitter install and additional internal jack point are also in the "difficult to convince the landlord" category (but not as much so as fibre). My current ISP (Spark) requires a master splitter install with all VDSL connections, however BigPipe will allow me to sign up to VDSL without a splitter install.

Now I know my connection would be better with a splitter, but since it isn't really an option I wanted some opinions on speed/quality vs ADSL.

With my ADSL2 connection I'm getting the following readings from the modem/router:

22/1.1 mbps

SNR: 12.8 db

Attenuation 1.5 db

Also I only have a single BT jack point and no other jack points in the unit. The jack point appears to be quite new and has what looks like a cat5 cable running into it.

Most of the problems with speed are likely to be related to internal wiring issues. Read this discussion to find out more about this. Your ISP is not intentionally slowing you down today (unless you are on a managed plan). Also if this is the school holidays it's likely you will notice slower than usual speed due to more users online.

A master splitter is required for VDSL2 and in most cases will improve speeds on DSL connections. Regular disconnections can be a monitored alarm or a set top box trying to connect. If there's an alarm connected to your line even if you don't have an alarm contract it may still try to connect so it's worth checking.

The industry standard is for an VDSL master splitter and BigPipe should know better they're just trying to cheap out on a proper install and considering it's an 2"x3.5" little black box I don't see why your landlord has a problem with it if there's room it can be installed inside the etp and never be seen again or inside the wall cavity behind the bt socket

as for speed you'll probably be on an 17a profile and near to maxing it out

The industry standard is for an VDSL master splitter and BigPipe should know better they're just trying to cheap out on a proper install and considering it's an 2"x3.5" little black box I don't see why your landlord has a problem with it if there's room it can be installed inside the etp and never be seen again or inside the wall cavity behind the bt socket

as for speed you'll probably be on an 17a profile and near to maxing it out

It's not industry standard since chorus racked up the price to $10/m for 30 months. That's basically all the profit an ISP will make on many customers. So not at all surprising that many of them don't include it anymore.

At $300 (which the ISP must then build into the cost of your plan) it represents extremely poor value, especially since a fair number of houses now already have them installed, and so Chorus will be double dipping with any ISP that includes it by default.

I think only spark now that installs splitters by default on every single connection. Other ISPs only do them where necessary e.g. Where landline is being used, or speeds are shown to be well below expectations.

Coffeebaron will do it for $150 and do a consistently good job, unlike chorus where it is pot luck. You might get a great job, or you might get a totally incompetent tech who will decide to drill through your cavity sliding door or something.

OP - Unless your wiring is absolutely shot,(and it sounds lie, it isn't) then you will probably be fine without a splitter.

Do it the right way, try vdsl without it. If you aren't happy, get coffee baron to do it and save yourself some money.

I am renting now and am awaiting a UFB installation - talked to the landlord about it and he was pretty happy with what I had requested.

I asked him to be there for the Chrous inspection and he was more than happy to talk to them, since I live in a brand new house he was worried about any modifications done by Chorus so he asked them to provide the hybrid cable to get contractors to install it himself. To his word he got contractors around to install a new electricity point in a cupboard, a shelf for my server gear and ran the hybrid cable in there too (out where the ETP is), a very tidy job. From here Chorus only need to install the ONT and connect the fibre to the street.

If you ensure you're forthcoming to your landlord they will assist. In my case the landlord doesn't believe in contracts and would rather his tenants be happy where they are (a very good landlord) but if you explain to the landlord it is the future of broadband and it is strongly recommended to go this route - explain the benefits in going this route for the tenants etc the landlord should help out.

Thank you for all your help and advice. I talked to Spark and they refuse to allow the connection without a splitter, and since they've provided me with great service and speeds over the last few years I would like to stay with them.

So, I've been talking to the landlord and they are happy with the modifications that would be made as part of a master splitter install including any new jack point install in the house.